The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-04-13


OF the roarers, but nary man OF 'em
could keep his face straight long
enough to fight me. Finally, like
Bakers hog went of in a drove by
myself and sat down in the outskirts
OF the camp, whar | began prepare
tions for agin' takin' to theroad. To
keep the scorchn' sun from burnin'
my ankles, | got some strong cloth
and made straps, so | could strap the
legs OF the drawers down to my moe
casins. Then was green from hips
to feet.
"When I got up to pursue my way
/ was so tightly cased in from my hips
down that | could hardly bend my
knee jints, but presently the drawers
limbered up at that pint. In passin'
along by the wagon trains that over
took had to stand all the fun that
people seed fit to poke at me. and it
was not little. Men whooped and
roared as ! came in sight, and the
wimmis sittin' in the front parts OF
the wagons laughed till the tears made
great streaks down their faces through
the alkali dust When one woman got
sight OF me every female critter in the
wagon had got to have n look. 1t
was: for Gods sake, Sally, Jane,
Betsev: look herel' and in q mint the
whole front end OF the wagon would
be filled with faces peepin' out at me
through long sunbonnets. Why,
they'd even hold up the babies to let
them have n look at me.
"At times the uproar would be SIGH
that the people i'll and about the
wagons half mile ahead would be
lookin' back to see what was up, and
sometimes the captains OF trains would
come charein back under whip and
spur to investigate What made me
look wuss than otherwise would was
the fact OF my roundabout iio.u red;
the red aggravated the greer ans. the
green the red You bet | Gkipred
along pretty lively past the wagons,
except when was obliged to stop to
ask for a drink OF water er n bite OF
grub. As hove in sight some Teller
would sing out: IIurrah! here comes
the great crane of the deserts. and
another: Oh, the legs OF HIM Some
called me the Green Dragon OF the
plains and one old fellow declared
that | was the 'wingless ilamingo OF
the inland lakes, a bird he had been
in search of for years.
every train / overlook had some
new name Tor me. With one train /
was the Upland Lobster OF the Great
Basin, and with the next / was
'Whangdoodle.' The lightest dose
/ got was to be asked how got away
from Barnum. / rather prided my
self on the title of Green Dragon OF
the Plains, Nlnd generally announced
myself as SIGH when got the chance,
for 1T seemed to me there was nothin'
sneakin' about that.
"Well, when got acrost the Sierras
to Hangtown, found out that there
was to be q grand ball that night just
in the edge OF the town. Before scat
te,,,1g to the various California camps
for N'"h they were bound the people
ysre %. = have q farewell dance to-
gether. II the evenin' | thought I'd
slip down TO whar the dance was to
come of and look on awhile. | al
ways was mighty fond OF dancin', and
do wn in old Missouri not many could
beat me at the double-shuille or the
fancy steps and filings.
When got to the place found they
had set up lot OF crotches IN which
they had laid poles, GOVERN the whole
with pine and spruce boughs, maxim a
sort OF canopy over big open hall.
The ground under this great shed had
been leveled off and beaten down till
it was like a brickyard. ! found two
or three fiddlers mounted on pine
boxes, and with them a teller with a
charionet. They were maxim pretty
fair music, and great crowd was
dancin' away A happier lot OF peo-
pie never saw before, and haven never
seen since. All the dangers OF the
plains and deserts we're left behind,
and before was land OF flowers and
OF gold.
"Well, / stood in the edge ofa crowd
Of two or three hundred spectators
for awhile as mere looker-on,
but pretty soon / got excited
like. My old Missouri ambition was
aroused. forgot all about my draw
ers and sailed into the thick OF the
business with tall, callus Pike Coun-
ty gal, with sun.bonnct of and hair
hangingdown her back almost to the
heels OF her shoes. She was built like
a racer and carried her head like the
lead boss of band wagon. / can tell
you we made the dust fly am lit
tie over six loot, and that gals head
came well up over my shoulders; so
you can see we were no sloven oil q
couple. Besides, the girl was prettier
than bay steer.
al soon saw that, though my draw
ers might he n little too tipht. / had